Goldman Sachs Human-Resources Chief Edith Cooper to Leave Firm

Edith Cooper, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s head of human resources and one of the highest-ranking black women on Wall Street, is leaving the firm at the end of the year, according to an internal memo.

In her nine years overseeing Goldman’s workforce, Ms. Cooper managed huge changes in recruiting and compensation as Goldman sought to refine its sharper edges and grappled with the fallout of the financial crisis.

Her next step isn’t clear, though many associates expect it to be in academia — she has been an advocate for diversity in higher education and campus recruiting — or in Silicon Valley, where several highflying startups are hoping for a cultural reboot.

She will remain a senior director at Goldman after Jan. 1, according to the memo, which signals she isn’t heading to a competitor.

Ms. Cooper once planned a career in fashion, imaging a boutique on Madison Ave., but instead joined Bankers Trust in 1986 out of business school. Ten years and three children later, she came to Goldman in securities sales and rose quickly, becoming a managing director in 1998 and partner two years after that.

In her current role, which she has held since 2008, Ms. Cooper has overseen a revamp in how Goldman recruits and manages its 34,000 employees.

The firm recently began accepting video submissions from college applicants, hoping that by reaching beyond elite, majority-white schools it can recruit a more diverse group of junior bankers. It has also done away with end-of-year numerical scorings in favor of more constant, qualitative feedback.

Ms. Cooper has spoken about her experiences as a black woman in finance, not all of them positive “I’ve been questioned about whether I really went to Harvard (I did) or how I got in (I applied),” she wrote last year in an essay for LinkedIn. “I’ve been asked to serve the coffee at a client meeting (despite being there to “run” the meeting).”

She will remain through the end of the year, long enough to oversee the promotion of a new class of managing directors, a biannual Goldman tradition.

Ms. Cooper will be replaced by Dane Holmes, Goldman’s head of investor relations since 2007 and head of Goldman’s internal talent-development academy, known as Pine Street.

His role will be filled by Heather Miner, a longtime investor-relations executive.

Write to Liz Hoffman at liz.hoffman@wsj.com

Breaking the story

Liz Hoffman was first to report Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s head of human resources, Edith Cooper, is leaving the firm, according to an internal memo viewed by The Wall Street Journal. Ms. Cooper managed huge changes in recruiting and compensation when Goldman was facing the fallout of the financial crisis. According to sources, she will stay on until the end of the year.

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